Dutch Oven Pumpkin Cake
A whole can of pumpkin, coals on the lid, and a sugar glaze that does not need a refrigerator.
- calories
- 560
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 102
- protein
- 4 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- 190 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Breakfast
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 4 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 2 1/2 cups | |
| Baking soda | 2 tsp | |
| Salt | 1 1/2 tsp | |
| Cinnamon | 1 tsp | |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp | |
| Canned pumpkin | one 15 oz can | puree, not pie filling |
| Neutral oil | 1 cup | canola or light olive |
| Water | 2/3 cup | |
| Powdered sugar | 2 cups | for the glaze |
| Vanilla extract | 2 tsp | a small dropper bottle is enough |
Method
- Build a fire down to coals, or light 24 charcoal briquettes and let them ash over.
- Line a 12 inch dutch oven with foil or grease it well with oil.
- Dump the premixed dry bag into the oven's lid or a bowl. Add the pumpkin, oil, and 2/3 cup water. Stir until no dry flour is left, then scrape it into the dutch oven.
- Set the oven on 8 coals. Put 16 on the lid. That runs around 375F in a 12 inch oven.
- Bake 35 to 45 minutes. Rotate the oven a quarter turn every ten minutes, and the lid the opposite way, or one side scorches. It is done when a knife comes out clean.
- Pull it off the coals, take the lid off, and let it cool. Warm cake will drink the glaze and go soggy.
- Stir the powdered sugar, vanilla, and water a teaspoon at a time until it pours slowly off the spoon. Pour it over the cooled cake.
The original is a cupcake recipe with cream cheese frosting, which means muffin tins and a working refrigerator. Neither travels. Batter baked as one cake in a dutch oven gets you the same thing with one vessel, and the frosting becomes a powdered sugar glaze that keeps at ambient temperature indefinitely. It is sweeter and thinner than the frosting. It also will not spoil in the bin on day three.
The pumpkin is doing double duty: moisture and structure, which is why there are no eggs and no milk in the list to begin with. Coal placement matters more than the recipe does. Most of the heat belongs on the lid, or you get a burnt bottom and a raw middle, and the quarter turns are not optional over a real fire where one side always runs hotter.
Packing
Flour, sugar, soda, salt, and spices go into one gallon bag at home, mixed. Oil and vanilla in bottles, powdered sugar in its own bag. Everything but the can rides in the food bin at room temperature.
Variations
- Chopped walnuts on the glaze, if nobody in camp has a nut allergy.
- Skip the glaze and cut squares for breakfast with coffee.
- Half the batch bakes fine in a 10 inch oven with 6 coals under and 12 on top.
https://thervatlas.com/food/thanksgiving-at-the-campground-pumpkin-bread-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting